Jul 15, 2008

Which Square-Enix Betrayal Shocked You More?

As evident by the huge outcry on gaming websites, blogs and forums - Square-Enix's announcement yesterday that FFXIII will be released simultaneously on the Xbox 360 and the PS3 was a huge megaton surprise. This is undoubtedly one of the most shocking announcements ever at an E3 event. PS3 owners across the globe are still reeling after hearing their long time Sony exclusive Final Fantasy XIII would be making its way to Microsoft's Xbox 360.

However, let's not forget that this isn't the first time that Square-Enix has been branded a turncoat and a sell out. Back in the Super Nintendo days, Square-Enix announced development of FFVII, an exclusive title for the upcoming Nintendo 64DD. Of course as we all know, Nintendo opted to can the 64DD in favour the traditional low capacity game cartridge. This led to a dispute between Square-Enix (who wanted to introduce rich audio and cinematics into the FF series that would require CD capacity) and Nintendo. Ultimately, this rift between the companies became so wide, Square-Enix decided to jump ship and produced FFVII exclusively on the Sony Playstation.

Given these two dramatic examples of Square-Enix's willingness to betray their allegiances, the question I have for you is - which one shocked you more?

Square-Enix is a company and a "For profit" organization. While I am disappointed in this announcement, I also see the sense it makes.

Square is bringing this to English speaking territories for the 360 and it will remain a PS3 exclusive in Japan.

Square wants to expand its customer and fan base. Its actually a good call.

My real concern is that all of the "really neat stuff" will be a bit watered down because its now on the 360.

The 360 is a more than capable system, but the Cell processor could have allowed them to some pretty nifty stuff. Even this begs the question, "What kind of nifty stuff does a turn based RPG need to do?". Sure graphics are nice, particle effects, etc. But Is there a need for a physics engine? Probably not. Destructible environments? Again, probably not.

I guess by "watered down" I really mean overall story. Will Square limit the story and experience so that it could fit on 3 DVDs vs 1 Blu-Ray?

It's not a betrayal at all, it's just good business. It makes more sense for them to publish the game for 2 systems so that they make the most money out of it. As you may know it still remains exclusive to ps3 in Japan.

As for FF7 on N64, use your brain pal. The original FF games were on NES and SNES, but I guess you overlooked that. There was also this little cd addon for the N64 that ended up being the playstation because Nintendo pulledo ut on the deal. So know your facts before you make false claims. ~_^

Give it a rest. Neither of the announcements were betrayal it's just business. Sony lost FFXIII when they decided to come out a year after Xbox360 with much more expensive hardware which performs similarly...

I dont see how they would need to 'water' down the story if they are going to put it on multiple dvds, thats the whole point of using multiple dvds. If Lost Odyssey can do it, so can FF i dont see how it will water down anything.

Why is everyone so mad about this? True gamers should be happy that the amazing experience that FFXIII will bring will be shared with more than twice as many gamers now! Nothing will get watered down. It doesn't work that way. Fanboys are flipping out because the Playstation lost another exclusive, but this is good for 360 gamers, not bad for PS3 gamers!I would also be happy if Gears of War made the jump to the PS3 because it's an experience that deserves to be shared. Too many gamers are selfish.

True gamers as you put it would have to be pissed off i am cos i can bet you a million that the game gets gimped because of the wankbox they have to keep the games at the low level the wankbox can handle so we ps3 owners or as i like to put it ppl with brains will now have to wait longer and also get a gimped game so microshaft dont cry and moan about ppl seeing how crap the wankbox is.If you dont see a problem with that then ur not a true gamer i want games that are made as good as they can be like mgs4 not gimped ones to keep microshaft happy there ruining gaming.Things where better back when microshaft actually thought they could beat sony legit now they know they cant so there doing the same thing as what they did with windows buying everyone out.Its a typical american company thing to do buy out the competition till theres no choice but to buy there shitty products

I don't see how this is a betrayal at all. Square didn't jump ship, last time I checked FF XIII is still coming out for the PS3. I really don't understand why PS3 owners are out there screaming betrayal. If you're so upset about this and you aren't a major share holder in Sony, then you really need to get your head checked. PS3 owners are not damaged by this announcement in the least. The result of this announcement is that XBox 360 owners will benefit along side PS3 owners. Do you guys really hate us that much, that you'd rather begrudge us a great gaming experience? More to the point Square making FFVII a PS exclusive was a larger betrayal. At least PS3 owners will be getting FFXIII, us N64 owners had to either pony up the extra cash for a Playstation or we had to sit out the Final Fantasy series.

I'm happy that gamers get to share the experience of FFXIII.But I'm afraid of what will become of it. It may be shorter, or maybe, the Xbox owners will have to "switch disc," because the content doesn't fit on just one disc. Square Enix themselves said ", Final Fantasy XIII is only possible on a blu-ray disc." And at the press conference on the topic of the 360 version, Katise said “,The game will be the same, but we have to consider Blu-ray and the other format, so it might be different [in that regard].”... They don't even know what the other format is. They are totally clueless. We all know that Microsoft slipped Square a check for 50 million and whispered in their ear "FFXII for the Xbox 360 in America." They weren't really prepared.That's what I'm afraid of. I'm not angry that the console I bought first let out on me with another game. I own all 3 consoles, I could care less. Its just sad that one might not have the same experience as the other. And I feel bad for Xbox fans, because they might get the game they were proudly announced in "parts" and switch discs, install to hard drive, etc. That would suck.

its betrayal because when the star ocean/LR deal was struck, SE confirmed the FF13 will still be a PS3 exclusive. This in my opinion was not a good stategic move. Look at the sales of JRPGs for 360 in EU and NA. They are not that good, they truly suck. Another reason why this is a bad decision is because of the overall market. Its changing dramaticly. The 360 is in a decline. I am not an analyst, I am a gamer and I can see this happening. I bring this up because by the time this game releases in Japan, Sony would have the market in the PAL regions (since they are currently close to eclipsing this at the moment) and they will come close to the 360, I say around 2 million away. This is also one way to tell a finacial deal was struck.